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Department of Justice (Atlion)
The Department of Justice (abbreviated to DOJ) is the federal government department responsible for the administration of justice and the enforcement of constitutional and statutory law in the Republic of Atlion. The department also represents the Atlionese government in legal matters. The Secretary of Justice, also officially known as the Attorney General leads the department, and is currently Thomas Dunwall. Constitutional Hall is the headquarters of the DOJ, and is located in the capital city of Luminaire. History Prior to 1800, when Albion was divided and largely at war with itself, no "national" justice department existed. Rather, royally-appointed marshals or self-appointed sheriffs existed throughout the island. However, when the Republic of Atlion was declared and its first constitution ratified, it became clear that such a department was needed. The newly created Senate established three independent organs of the government to administer justice, namely the position of Executor of Justice, the Bureau of Solicitors, and a semi-private organization known as Atlion Prisons. The Executor of Justice was a presidential appointed individual responsible for overseeing the various state and local law enforcement departments, which at that time was mostly small sheriff's offices. The Executor was to be a legal expert (preferably an attorney), to give advice to the Senate and President when called upon. The workload of the Executor was however later discovered to be too large for an office of such a small size. The Bureau of Solicitors consisted of all of government attorneys within the Republic, be they public defenders or prosecutors. State and local governments had to register their legal offices with the Bureau for them to be recognized. The Bureau itself also employed federal prosecutors who took cases involving crimes against the Republic and cross-border felonies. The Bureau exists today in the form of the Office of the Solicitors General. Lastly, Atlion Prisons was responsible for administering the jails and prisons throughout Atlion. Senate decided that establishing such a department in the form of a public and private partnership was going to be effective. Senator Jewd R.R. Baalgruf was quoted at the time saying "People live in these institutions, so that 'personal touch' is needed to ensure prisoners' stay there isn't too uncomfortable." State's Port Catering, a catering firm from Statesport won the bid to be the civilian contractor and was in partnership with the government up until the creation of the Correctional Administration Bureau. In 1893, the Senate Committee on Internal Security conducted an inquiry into the creation of a unified law department headed by the Executor of Justice and composed of the various federal law enforcement departments and attorneys. In 1895, Senator John Tatham introduced a bill creating the Department of Justice, which passed successfully without much opposition. The position of Executor of Justice was replaced with Attorney General, which was later change to Secretary of Justice. The title Attorney General was however kept officially as a second title. In 1907 the Secretary at the time created the Internal Security Agency, a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency (counterintelligence). The ISA was created to have investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 100 categories of federal crime. Organization Leadership *Office of the Secretary of Justice *Office of the Undersecretary of Justice Law enforcement agencies *Internal Security Agency *Correctional Administration Bureau Offices *Office of the Solicitors General *Office of Policy and Programs *Office of the President's Counsel *Office of Public Relations *Office of Human Resources *Office of Intergovernmental Cooperation *Office of Internal Affairs Internal Security Agency The ISA is the federal government's principle federal-level law enforcement agency, and the Atlionese-equivalent of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation. The ISA acts as a domestic counterterrorism agency and is responsible for coordinating with state and local law enforcement in the event of a cross-state felony. The Agency regularly assists local law enforcement with major crimes such as kidnappings, mass shootings and hostage situations, as it has a much higher budget and is better equipped than most other LEA organizations. Atlion, being a peaceful country with mediocre crime rates compared to the likes of the United States, seldom requires the ISA to be fully mobilized. Up until October 2001, the Agency permitted agents to hold second jobs and frequently dismissed days when employees were not at work. This changed on 17 October, 2001, when a bomb detonated in the Metropolis International Hotel and Conference Center subway station in Statesport, Broker. That day saw more than 5,000 federal agents pour into Statesport and certain aspects of the ISA's mandate changed entirely. The ISA has become more militarized and makes use of several SWAT teams, located in every major Atlionese city. The ISA moved from Constitutional Hall, the headquarters of the Department of Justice, to its own facility located nearby in July 2002, after the Agency's employee count grew by roughly 110%. It is now located at the Sophie Travere Center, named after Sophie Travere, the person largely considered to be the champion of Atlion's modern counterterrorism infrastructure. See also *List of law enforcement agencies in Atlion *Government of the Republic of Atlion category:Government of Atlion category:Atlion